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posted by martyb on Tuesday April 18 2017, @08:26PM   Printer-friendly
from the check-your-fillings dept.

Meteors may emit radio waves as they burn up in the atmosphere. The radio waves could be converted to sound by vibrating objects near the ground, explaining why some observers "hear" meteors in real time despite the discrepancy between the speeds of light and sound:

For centuries, some observers have claimed that shooting stars or meteors hiss as they arc through the night sky. And for just as long, skeptics have scoffed on the grounds that sound waves coming from meteors should arrive several minutes after the light waves, which travel nearly a million times faster. Now, scientists have proposed a theory to explain how our eyes and ears could perceive a meteor at nearly the same time. The hypothesis might also explain how auroras produce sound, a claim made by many indigenous peoples living at high latitudes.

Meteors release huge amounts of energy as they disintegrate in the atmosphere. They also produce low frequency radio waves that travel at the speed of light. Some scientists have suggested that those radio waves produce the sound that accompanies meteors. The waves can cause everyday objects—including fences, hair, and glasses—to vibrate, which our ears pick up as sound between 20 and 20,000 Hertz. This phenomenon, called electrophonics, is a well-known principle: "The conversion from electromagnetic waves to sound waves ... is exactly how your radio works," says Colin Price, an atmospheric scientist at Tel Aviv University in Israel and co-author of the new study. "But in this case nature provides the conversion between electromagnetic waves and acoustic waves."

On the electrophonic generation of audio frequency sound by meteors (DOI: 10.1002/2017GL072911) (DX)

Photoacoustic Sounds from Meteors (open, DOI: 10.1038/srep41251) (DX)


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 18 2017, @08:49PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 18 2017, @08:49PM (#496009)

    so ... basically, normal approved science says that if a square kilometer cube of meteroid falling away from the heavenly skies to fill snug into some square earthly county, then, even 1 cm before impact, the surface would know nothing of the imminent desaster? or even 1 mm?
    the study suggests that everything is connected to everything, even before a lazy observer trying to enforce light-speed, that shit happens.
    if the tree falls and nobody is there to observe, it doesnt make a sound.

  • (Score: 3, Funny) by wonkey_monkey on Tuesday April 18 2017, @09:11PM (2 children)

    by wonkey_monkey (279) on Tuesday April 18 2017, @09:11PM (#496015) Homepage

    I assume you're aware of what you've been smoking.

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 18 2017, @09:50PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 18 2017, @09:50PM (#496037)

      virgina tobacoa with a hint of vanilla?
      or do you mean the hippy lazy after hour rope making sailing ship kind of cheap hemp?

    • (Score: 2) by edIII on Tuesday April 18 2017, @11:23PM

      by edIII (791) on Tuesday April 18 2017, @11:23PM (#496064)

      That is dependent upon how good it is. Plus, the really good stuff gives you short term memory loss. So, it is dependent upon how good it is.

      --
      Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.